How Do We Get to Point C From Point B?
by southernyankee
Summary: Harry is at that time in a teen's life where he wants to date girls, but who? What happens when his best friend asks out the girl he likes? Will they all stay together? A lighter version of HP6 with a focus on romantic relationships rather than the plot.


Author's Note: This was originally written in 2002. How has that been almost a decade already? The idea was originally inspired by a discussion in Harry/Hermione Shippers Anonymous (HHSA), a Yahoo!Group I was a member of for a few years in middle/high school. It has been incredibly edited and altered since then due to the maturation of the writer, the publication of the 5th, 6th, and 7th books (also possibly the 4th. This was a while ago, people!), and the release of all 8 movies. It has been edited/rewritten so that I can qualify as a registered Beta on FFN. I am not a creative writer and am much more useful as a Beta, I swear. Should you like to see the original story and see the changes, feel free to let me know.

Since the idea germinated in 2002, this is going to be A/U starting at least post 5th book, if not earlier. I will do my best to not alter the story too too much, but it's going to happen. I'm also going to insert the plot points that came out as a result of the publication of the rest of the series, but won't use the details much. I heartily disagree with J.K. Rowling's decision to make Ron the Prefect and Harry the Quidditch Captain, so I happily reversed it. It's really better for all involved.

These characterizations are from an old thread from almost a decade ago. I attempted to flesh them out and not Weasley-bash. I actually really do like Ron and Ginny as characters and read both pro-Weasley fics and Weasley-bashing fics. The quality of writing is far more important than the details of the story to me.

Disclaimer: It's all J.K. Rowling and possibly Warner Brother's. I just like to read about them and change their stories. All errors are my own.

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><p>November in the Golden Trio's 6th year was a relatively cheerful time for them. Yes, Snivellus Snape was the DADA teacher. Yes, Sirius Black was dead. Yes, Lord Moldyshorts was gathering power. Yes, the Ministry was useless. And, yes, something odd was going with Headmaster Dumbledore. Despite all this AND the typical teenage angst, the Golden Trio was having a good term. Why was this? The answer was simple: hormones. After all, what good is the typical rite of passage of dating someone if you don't actually do it?<p>

Look, there are the two happy couples now. Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, and Ginny Weasley, The-Girl-Who-Has-Always-Loved-The-Boy-Who-Lived, are the first to walk past. They are holding hands and quietly discussing their plans for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend and Quidditch matches. Sunday will be their one-month mark.

A few feet behind them are Hermione Granger, the Brightest-Witch-Of-Her-Age, and Ron Weasley, Gryffindor's Strategist and Quidditch Captain. They too are discussing the upcoming weekend in Hogsmeade and Quidditch, but not together. Hermione is trying to plan her date and Ron is trying to convince her that she should at least try and play the sport. She's letting him convince her to keep him from acting as chaperone to Harry and Ginny. They had been dating a few weeks longer than Harry and Ginny, after Ron asked out Hermione in the beginning of the term.

The couples were usually seen together either as pairs or as a foursome. The epic best friendship that most of Hogwarts had noticed between Harry and Hermione seemed somewhat strained, and the two were rarely seen alone together. Still, they all were happy, right? After all, they are One Big Happy Weasley Family, just like they all wanted.

But how did we get to this point? To answer that question, let's go back to September, the Friday before the first Hogsmeade weekend. As stated earlier, Harry and Hermione's friendship was well-known in the school. She was one of the few to stand by him during the Chamber of Secrets and TriWizard Tournament fiascos, and she was likely the only person to get him calmed down. She also went willingly into danger to help him save Sirius. Harry defended her and was the only one to get her out of the library, a feat not matched by her own boyfriend. Most of the students in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, along with the majority of the faculty, expected the two to get together. To be honest, so did most of the Gryffindors, including fifth year Ginny Weasley. She had seen the friendship flourish over the past few years, and though she had had a childhood crush on The-Boy-Who-Lived, she didn't want to get in the way of her friends and happiness. Besides, she had been writing Dean Thomas most of the summer and found him to be a good bloke and not too frightened of her six brothers.

This is why she was rather nervous about Ron saying that Harry wanted to ask her something, and was nervous about being nervous. It wasn't like she really fancied Harry Potter any more. Sure, he was pretty cute and fit, and everybody knew the Potters were loaded, but she was over her schoolgirl crush right? She decided to pluck up her Gryffindor courage and talk to Harry after their last class (Potions for her, History for him) and see what he wanted. Hopefully it was just about Quidditch or the D.A. or something.

"Harry!" she called, "You got a minute?" Harry turned around.

"Yeah, Ginny?" he responded, trying to shake off the History cobwebs.

"Ron said you wanted to ask me something. Is something up with the team?" Harry looked at Ginny, confused.

"Huh?" Clearly on the ball, this one is.

"Ron said that you wanted to ask me something earlier but had to dash off. What is it? Speaking of Ron, where is that bottomless pit I call brother?" Ginny responded, feeling as confused as Harry currently looked.

"Erm, well, he's right, well, he WAS right next to me. Where'd he go? Maybe he decided to go with Hermione to the library. She did have an awful lot of books to return," he said doubtfully.

"Oh, maybe he's finally asking her out then. He was moaning about it enough this summer."

"What?" Harry paled. Not the reaction Ginny expected.

"Yea, he has this huge crush on her. Reckons that their fighting all the time is some form of sexual tension or something. I pointed out that we fight like the blazes as well, and, well, ew, but sometimes Ron doesn't get logic." _'Come on,' _she thought, _'Ask your question so I can start on my work.'_

"Hermione says that most wizards don't have an ounce of logic."

"Like Ron has that much outside the pitch or chessboard? Harry, what's your question? I don't mean to be rude, but fifth year means OWLs and OWLs means lots of studying, and there's tryouts this week, and I WILL make it onto the House Team."

"Oh, erm, well," he stammered. Just what WAS his question? He didn't remember needing to ask Ginny anything. Ron had hinted all summer that he'd be OK with Harry dating Ginny (but ONLY Harry. Can't trust any other blokes, of course). He had been thinking about asking Hermione to go with him to Hogsmeade, but buggerall if Ron hadn't already done that. He stood in front of the pretty red head, stunned both at the realization that both he and his best friend fancied Hermione and the fact that Ron had beaten him to her. What was he going to do?

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><p>Like it? Hate it? Want me to Beta for you? Let me know. I'll be trying to get to the requisite 6000 words with this one story. The story is by no means set in stone, so if you have an idea of where I should go with it, please suggest away. It will have HarryHermione as the endgame, however.


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